Investigators won't say why it took seven hours for the survivor of a fatal Southland crash to contact police.
Police today revealed a 40-year-old passenger managed to escape from a car that became submerged a Southland river earlier this week.
The car entered the Mataura River off Holz Rd about 5.30am on Monday. However, police were not alerted until 1pm.
Police could not comment on the time it took for the accident to be reported, saying this formed part of their ongoing investigation on behalf of the coroner.
The man who managed to get out of the vehicle did not require any medical attention, police said today.
